In any growing urban environment, parking gripes often dominate the discussion, and Buda is no exception. Local shop owners on Main Street complain that their customers face difficulties finding convenient spots to park their vehicles, and have trouble maneuvering out of the angled spots into oncoming traffic.
At a recent council meeting, city leaders saw the results of an informal study that attempted to quantify how much a parking crunch the city really faced.
On an ordinary day, the answer was, “not much.”
While acknowledging that parking spots quickly fill up during city festivals such as Budafest or the popular wiener dog races, the study found that drivers on Main Street could expect to see about half of the 223 parking spots free.
The study looked at parking spots on a Tuesday, Friday and Saturday in February, all around the noon hour, in good weather. On the busiest block, between China and Peach streets, at least 16 of the 47 spots were open. The recently constructed 22-space parking lot at China Street was never occupied by more than a single vehicle in any of the study periods.
In the event that a particular block was full, the walk from the furthest lot on China Street would be 580 feet to Garcia’s restaurant and about 850 feet to Buda Grocery.
“People are perfectly willing to walk nearly 500 feet in a Walmart parking lot, but they aren’t willing to do the same thing downtown,” Buda Planning Director Chance Sparks said.
Downtown business owners say the parking issue is less about the quantity of spaces, and more about the quality and usage of parking.
Carol Gage, co-owner of Sue Ellen’s florist shop, said local business owners and employees should park on back streets, leaving open the front spots for customers. However, she noted, many of the back streets have culverts that prevent parking.
Additionally, Gage said she was frustrated to see City Hall visitors and contractors parking on Main Street, rather than in the municipal parking lot.
“We see them walk across the street all day long,” Gage said. “They don’t utilize the city parking lot. If they could get the city business in their own parking lot, that would be more helpful than anything.”
Local business owners also say they’re worried about the cars and trucks that zip down Main Street, making it dangerous for motorists to maneuver out of the angled parking spots with limited visibility.
“This traffic has got to slow down,” Gage said. “Little old ladies don’t like to back out into it because they’re afraid they’re going to get hit.”
The city parking study could help kill one possible plan to move the city’s gazebo and turn a portion of the greenbelt into an additional municipal parking lot. Though the plan never gained real traction among councilmembers, the city ordered schematics that show the greenbelt, which is frequently used for festivals and city events, paved over with parking spots.
“I’m not really excited about putting asphalt in our greenbelt,” said Buda Mayor Bobby Lane. “I don’t know if there’s this intense rush to have parking that precedes us doing a little more study.”
Sparks said the city should be careful about sacrificing the greenbelt for parking.
“Obviously, in any city, downtown green space is a premium,” Sparks said. “Having a green area in your downtown is unique. Generally my preference is when you have an opportunity to keep a green space, you should.”
Instead, Lane said he would be more interested in looking at investments like filling in missing sidewalks and improving crosswalks.
“As our population grows, more young people are coming in with kids and strollers,” Lane said. “It would be nice to be more supportive of that lifestyle. I would definitely like to look at being more pedestrian friendly.”
A good pedestrian environment can help increase foot traffic at local businesses, Sparks noted.
“Downtowns are where cities tend to draw so much of their identity from,” Sparks said. “That’s what sets Buda apart from other Austin suburbs. They actually have a legitimate historic downtown area. But maintaining the life of that requires investment periodically.”
The current revisions to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, slated for completion this summer, might offer the city an opportunity to look at those changes, Lane said.
